Electrical connection between an external wiring system and contact springs adapted to be engaged by the terminals of a fluorescent lamp and/or a starter is frequently made by using terminal elements which are accessible from the outside of the socket housing through a suitable opening and which have wire clamping or similar terminals therein. The electrical connection of an insulated wire is made by introducing the connecting conductor or conductors through suitable openings into the housing after the conductor of the insulated wire has been stripped free of insulation. The contact spring is formed in the region of the opening with a flap or tongue punched therefrom to form a contact region adjacent the tongue, in which the contact region may be slightly bent to form a counter or support element for the end of the wire inserted through the opening which is clamped in that region by the free end of the tongue. The tongue is resilient. The entire arrangement can be made of a metal strip which is suitably bent generally over its flat surface to have a unitary element forming the contact spring for the pins of the lamp base as well as the contact portion and contact tongue for the electrical connection to an electrical conductor.
The starter is connected between the outer wiring by a separate clamping spring tongue located in another portion of the housing.
The referenced application U.S. Ser. No. 08/190,129, filed, Feb. 3, 1994, ALBECK et al, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,606, May 14, 1996 illustrates use of slit blade insulation piercing connectors in combination with two-pin based lamps which permit automatic wiring of a lamp fixture. Two slit blade insulation piercing connector springs are located in a housing of insulated material, placed offset with respect to each other. The slit blade insulation piercing connectors have generally U shape. The insulation-piercing slit is open on top and permits radial insertion of a conductor which still contains insulation, that is, from which an end portion of insulation has not been removed. Groove-like recesses laterally located next to the slit blade insulation piercing connector are provided to protect possibly present free, uninsulated blank ends of the conductor against accidental contact. The width of the recesses and the depth of the insertion of the conductor into the slit blade insulation piercing connector are so selected that a standardized test ball cannot touch any elements which would carry voltage with the connector in use.